If Tierney was three or four years older, he’d be pressed to find a top six club to have a genuine shot at the big time and justify a move to himself.
He isn’t and we can offer virtually guaranteed first team football on the big stage and a massive wage increase.
He is at a stage where we can afford him and he can afford us, so to speak. The right age, and the right time.
We can’t sign multiple players for £50-60m a pop and nor can we sign players who will be approaching 30 or so after one contract.
This is the game we are in now and the market we need to be in - sign them young, get value, and watch that value soar here and there a few times if we get lucky.
I hope we do get him, as it’s close to the best form of calculated risk we can take. Only if he succeeds of course. There is a huge amount riding on Brands and Silva’s judgement. For every diamond, there are 20 Keanes or Klaassens but that is still the risk we need to take.